The end of January and all of February are always very significant for the University and its LGBT Community. The end of January is when the Stonewall Workplace Equality index (WEI) results are announced.

Run by Stonewall, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights charity, the Workplace Equality Index is free to enter for any employer. The University has entered every year since 2012 and has maintained a Top 100 position since 2015 – we are hoping for this to continue in 2020!

Entering the WEI signifies our commitment to equality for all our LGBT+ staff and students ensuring they work and study in an accepting and supportive environment. We achieve this in numerous ways – from ensuring our policies are fully inclusive to offering specific training to allies to raising awareness of the barriers that LGBT people face through profiles, podcasts and events throughout the year.

February is a perfect time to not only showcase our inclusive environment, but also remind people about the importance of being inclusive through events during LGBT History Month.

LGBT History month has been celebrated in the UK since 2005 and since 2010 the University has used this as an opportunity to host a full timetable of varied events looking at all aspects of LGBT life. The theme for 2020 is ‘poetry, prose and plays’ and we’ll be looking at how people can relate their stories by expanding our podcast series ‘It Gets better’ to include more LGBT voices, plus the voices of Allies. Our ALLOUT Allies network has been going from strength to strength and we have over 200 allies across all disciplines and areas of university life.

Our 2020 timetable features links with areas of Sport and wellbeing, training, a theatre production and a special celebration evening with Christine Burns MBE who will help mark the 10^th birthday of ALLOUT – the LGBT Staff Network Group. This will be the launch of our ’10 for 20’ series of events which will showcase how far we have progressed since 2010 for full LGBT+ inclusion in the workplace and how we plan to continue this in the future both in and outside of the University.

Our full timetable can be found on StaffNet and all events are open to everyone.